1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a system for controlling a direction of a body of a ship, vessel or watercraft (hereafter collectively "vessel"), and particularly, it relates to a vessel direction control system for a small-scale vessel such as a fishing boat.
2. Description of Relevant Art
There has been proposed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open Publication No. 63-196798 a vessel direction control system for small-scale vessels, which comprises a wind direction detecting means for detecting a direction of winds above a small-scale vessel, a vessel direction controlling outboard motor attached to a bow or stern of the vessel, and a control means responsive to the detected wind direction to control a direction of a propulsive force of the outboard motor so that the bow is always oriented upstream the winds.
The conventional vessel direction control system is adapted to detect a direction and a pressure of winds above a small-scale vessel, and is responsible for the result to control the outboard motor to keep a vessel direction so that a bow is always oriented upstream the winds.
As winds change with time, the bow is oriented at a varying direction.
The conventional vessel direction control system thus fails to exhibit a desirable performance in application to a small-scale vessel for a fishing that needs a bow to be oriented at a fixed direction irrespective of a direction or a pressure of winds, like a bass fishing on a boat.